The subject matter herein relates generally to mezzanine receptacle connectors.
Known mezzanine connectors mechanically and electrically interconnect a pair of circuit boards in a parallel arrangement. Typically, the mezzanine connector will engage both circuit boards to interconnect the circuit boards. For example, the mezzanine connector will be mounted to one of the circuit boards and will engage the other circuit board at a separable mating interface. The mezzanine connector typically uses deflectable spring beams at the separable mating interface. However, such interfaces require a significant amount of real estate and space because the spring beams require long beam lengths to achieve the required spring force and deformation range. Contact density of such mezzanine connectors is limited because of the separable mating interface. At least some known mezzanine connector systems utilize two mezzanine connectors, each mounted to a different circuit board and then mated together. Such systems can be complex and difficult to manufacture. For example, such mezzanine connectors have many contacts individually loaded into a housing, which may be difficult and time consuming to assemble. Furthermore, known mezzanine connectors suffer from signal performance limits due to the tight spacing of the contacts in the mezzanine connectors.
Thus, a need exists for a mezzanine connector assembly that provides a cost effective and reliable connection between circuit boards.